


Time and Mercy

by Kariki



Series: Climbing Class Prompts [3]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Chris is a good friend, Killing of small animals, M/M, Moderately serious with dark humor, Odd combination of cute and creepy, Physical Mutations, Prompt Fic, Searching for a wendigo cure, The mountain might be sentient, Wendigo!Josh, Wendigos, Wendigos are oddly cat like in a terrifying way, Wendigos purr, tags will be added as needed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-23 02:23:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4859495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kariki/pseuds/Kariki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris had gone back up that mountain to save his best friend and... and that's what he was going to do.  He just wished Josh would show his gratitude in ways other than leaving dead birds all over the place.  Like by not leaving dead birds all over the place.</p><p>(Wendigo!Josh prompts get their own fic )</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time and Mercy

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: climbing class request, wendigo Josh catching birds for Chris who is trying to read from the journal. 
> 
> Originally posted on my tumblr ( http://kariki.tumblr.com/ )
> 
> Title from the original 'Oh Death' song.
> 
> Whoa, Death someone would pray  
> Could you wait to call me another day  
> The children prayed, the preacher preached  
> Time and mercy is out of your reach

This was the dumbest idea he had ever had, Chris had no problem admitting it.

Going with the rescue team into the mines to find Josh? Fucking stupid.

Not running when they actually find Josh? Even more fucking stupid.

Dragging Josh up to the sanatorium when Josh didn’t rip his head off? Also really fucking stupid.

But what choice did he have? He couldn’t kill Josh, even if he was turning into a cannibalistic monster. He had already lost him twice, he couldn’t lose him again. He also couldn’t leave Josh up here on this mountain all alone to fend for himself – he had no problem killing the men sent to rescue him, only Chris had been immune to that.

Chris had the old man’s notes, he knew the sanatorium was, at least moderately, safe. It seemed an obvious choice. He just had to keep Josh somewhere safe until… until he could fix this.

The old man had said there was no cure but the guy hadn’t had a reason to find one. Chris did.

That was what Chris kept telling himself as he flipped through the journal, searching for information to help him in this endeavor. Or really any information besides how to kill and/or trap wendigos.

At the moment, he was particularly interested in finding out if wendigo were somehow related to cats.

“Jesus fuck!” Chris launched himself out of the old chair as the bird landed in a mess of feathers and blood on the worn pages of the book on the desk. He looked up at the second landing to see Josh leaning over the railing.

Josh made an odd clicking noise that reminded Chris of the old Predator movies. There was an expectant and hopeful look on Josh’s mutated and blood covered face.

Chris remembered reading somewhere that the reason cats left dead mice and birds in people’s shoes was because the cats thought their human owners were too stupid to hunt for themselves. Apparently, wendigo had the same mentality.

“Thanks, Josh,” Chris muttered, moving back to the desk and gently picking up the bird, hoping it’s blood hadn’t ruined the pages too badly. “It looks delicious… FUCK!”

Josh landed on the desk in front of Chris with a loud thud. Josh was still more human than monster so his landing was not the most graceful but, with a cat-like denial, Josh sat on the desk like he had meant to land on his ass instead of his feet. It was one of the first things Chris had noted about Josh – he was still very human compared to the other wendigos he had seen. He couldn’t skitter around like a spider or scale the walls with his bare hands but neither fact stopped him from climbing around the railings and rafters.

Josh made the clinking noise again and his milky white eyes darted between Chris and the bird.

Chris tried to hid a grimace.

The first time Josh had tried to ‘feed’ him, he had brought him one of the ranger’s severed heads, dirt still plastered to it from where Josh had dug it back up. That had… not gone over well. Chris had reburied the head outside in the makeshift graveyard while Josh roamed around him, making annoyed clicking and screams.

After that, he had brought him a hand and then a leg. 

At that point, Chris had been worried Josh was trying to turn him into a wendigo as well. Had Hannah done the same to Josh? Brought him body parts until he ate them? Did she make him eat them?

Would Josh lose patience with him and force him too?

It was something Chris couldn’t let happen.

When the sun came up that day and Josh had curled up in a corner to sleep, Chris had gone out to the graveyard and opened the graves and burned them all, removing the possibility of Josh digging them up for a snack. In hindsight, it was probably something he should have done to begin with, to make sure Josh didn’t eat more people and start the transformation again.

Josh had been distraught when he woke up that night to see the smoldering fires and Chris worried that Josh really had been sneaking bites from the dead bodies. 

That night, Josh brought him a large, black crow with a missing wing and the other barely attached. He had shoved it in Chris’s face and grinned at him.

Now, months later, Chris looked at his new 'gift’, recognizing it as some kind of owl and looked back up at Josh’s expectant face. He held the bird a few inches from his mouth and made a 'num num num’ sound before pulling it away again.

“Oh, sorry, Josh,” He held the bird out back to him, “I’m not very hungry, you have the rest.”

Josh clicked and snatched the bird out of his hand with his long, sharp teeth and Josh repressed a shudder and Josh began ripping it apart. Feathers, organs, flesh, and even a few bones disappeared before his eyes as Chris tried to hold back a look of disgust.

This… this was an improvement. Chris just had to remember that.

Josh slipped off the desk and sat down beside the old office chair Chris had been sitting in.

At least this part wasn’t nightmare inducing.

Chris sat down in the chair and pulled it back up to the desk and Josh leaned back to rest his head on Chris’s thigh. The odd clicking began again.

Chris turned to the back of the journal, to the still empty pages there and read what he had added to the Stranger’s journal:

_Wendigos can recognize loved ones._

_The transformation can be halted if they stop feeding before the transformation finishes. Can it be reversed?_

_Wendigos will try to feed people. Trying to turn them? Being helpful?_

_Wendigos are very good at catching birds. Or Josh had a secret bird catching talent he’s been holding out on me._

Chris uncapped one of the few working pens he had managed to find and added:

_Wendigos purr. It's weird and horrifying. Will test head scratches at later date._


End file.
